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Boo-Whoop and welcome back! Today marks a significant day in Merrie-Woode’s history: for the first time in forever (almost two years) we finally have campers back in camp! In all of my 103 summers here, we’ve never gone this long without seeing all of their happy faces in person. We’re so excited to close our laptop screens, end our Zoom calls, and be back together in the greatest place ever.
Summer is finally here and we’re both situating and celebrating on Fairfield Lake. A few things look different this year. Before y’all head over to the photos, I just wanted to decode some things. We have a 2 out of 3 policy. There are the 3 boxes: we can either be masked, outside, or 6 feet apart. We want to maintain at least 2 of those at all times!
However, we also know that we will be sleeping in our cabins and unmasked at that point. Thus, we have pod squads. Any photos with unmasked individuals are all together in the same pod squad. Their pod squad is their collective bubble. These girls can remain unmasked around their immediate cabin mates and cabin counselors only. This is also the group that campers will eat with throughout the summer!
Now that we’ve cleared that up, let’s talk about opening Day! Sadly, no parents drove down the winding camp road to drop off their campers. Instead, they parted ways at the Inn Site and some of our awesome counselors drove them on in. There is no better feeling that van loads of campers running into their eagerly-anticipated assigned cabins!
All of our cabin signs were up and decorated so nicely this summer. I bounced around while waiting for the first campers to arrive and got a sneak peek into all of the cabins, their set ups, and their counselors! Once campers arrived to their cabins, our maintenance crew soon followed behind with trunks and duffels to begin setting up!
Next up on the list, the Swim and Dunk Evaluation! Here, campers are assessed to ensure we will all have a safe summer on the waterfront. Rumor has it, the lake felt so nice under the warm afternoon sun. Following a quick dip, we wandered over to Lily Pad to enjoy a picnic lunch with our cabin mates and counselors! I may have snuck in and grabbed a cookie or two when no one was looking.
We continued the afternoon with reviewing new rules in place to keep us all safe this summer. First and foremost, the most important rule is still to have fun (COVID-19 couldn’t change that)! After having time to set up bunks and belongings, we headed to dinners where we gathered in a split-shift style by age group. The Page and Yeoman age groups are one group and the Squire and Knight age groups are another. We have two meal times for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and the smaller crowds in the dining hall help to facilitate social distancing and a smooth schedule.
The night was capped by our first community-wide gathering of the summer: campfire. While masked and divided by age group, we sang together as sparks and embers decorated the Sapphire night sky. Life is starting to feel normal again, and it’s all thanks to the happy campers–I’m so glad they’re home!
PS: I won’t post all of the blogs on this website. We have transitioned to Waldo, but I want to ease the transition so I am uploading in both places for a few days. Check us out here https://waldophotos.com/@campmerriewoode and refer to the last post here https://merriewoode.com/2021/06/waldo-blog-access-step-by-step-instructions/ for step-by-step instructions.
Warm welcome,
Tajar
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